Parent’s Weekend 2018 - Mom's Summary

It was great to see Graham again after being out in Colorado Spring only a few weeks ago. Unlike Acceptance Day (or A-Day in Academy lingo) when we had roughly 2.5 hours with him, Parent’s Weekend gave us the opportunity to take him off-base for a few days to fatten him up a bit, allow him to sleep as late as he wanted and just be a family again.

Brian and I arrived in the Springs on Thursday evening, stopping at the Dog Haus, our new favorite restaurant, for some gourmet hot dogs and craft beer. After checking into our hotel, we purchased boxes and boxes of snacks at Costco to sustain the Cadet and his roommates for a few more weeks. Dinner was at the Caspian Café for delicious Mediterranean food.

Friday morning, we were up and out the door early (so we thought) to make it in time for the parachuting and glider demonstrations before the Cadet Wing military parade. We were wrong. Parent cars were backed up for miles on the route into the Academy. We parked far away from Stillman Field and booked it as fast as we could walk. The parent’s guide for the weekend suggested sturdy, comfortable shoes. We needed them. We found our spots on the upper deck of the bleachers just minutes before the Cadets began marching in, followed by a flyover of three jets. They were followed a few minutes later by a flyover of three geese. They were not quite as fast but in perfect formation.

Graham's squadron: Squadron 37, the Skyraiders.

F16 Flyover

Geese Flyover

Here's an 8-minute highlight video of the parade and flyover:

All 40 squadrons were inspected by the upper command staff. Then the Cadets were released, and parents stormed the field like a plague of locusts, grabbing their kids for bear hugs and photos.

Escorted by Graham, we were able to enter the Cadet Area to see where he had stood on the red footprints on Induction Day and view statues of honored fallen Cadets including Lt. Col. Lance Sijan. Sijan was a USAFA grad who had been captured and tortured during the Vietnam War. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. Graham lives in Sijan Hall. During Basic Training, Sijan’s sister talked about her brother with the incoming freshmen and told how his class ring had been found in the jungles of Laos last year.

The Honor Gate, where Graham passed through on In-Processing Day back in June.

Lt. Col. Lance Sijan

Then we ran into our friend C2C Gus Bates from Texas. Gus is a former Modern Pentathlete who competed against Graham years ago during the Texas regional event and at Nationals at the Olympic Training Center. Gus is a junior and had answered many of Graham’s questions about the Academy this spring. It was the first time the guys had seen each other on campus as Gus was training at another Air Force base this summer.  

Gus Bates, and Graham.

We toured the library, peeked in at classrooms and met Dr. Ramon Ahrens, Graham’s German professor. He suggested that Graham double major in Political Science along with Foreign Area Studies to maximize his potential for German study abroad opportunities.

The Foreign Languages department.

A typical classroom at USAFA holds 20-24 students. Great class sizes.

Foreign Area Studies audio room.

Following burgers cooked by Graham’s squadron commanders, we hiked back to the car (thank you, sturdy shoes) and drove closer to his dorm to deliver a printer and the cache of Costco goodies. While Brian helped set up the printer, I tried to sanitize as many surfaces as I could. That room was disgusting! I can’t completely blame Graham and his roommates. I think they inherited a pig sty and haven’t had the time or inclination to do anything about it.

Cadet Maas during our walk on the campus.

Sijan Towers, Graham's dorm this year.

The door leading into Graham's dorm room.

Once GK had changed into his service dress uniform which he has to wear anytime he is off-base until Recognition in March, he was able to leave campus. Freedom at last!

Selfie with Cadet Maas

First stop, was the Dog Haus for brats and tater tots.

The Dog Haus does it right!

We were able to get him fed and then move into our temporary home for the weekend. Graham’s sponsor family had very graciously offered us the use of their home over the Labor Day weekend while they were camping. We were able to enjoy a spacious, beautiful home with the added benefit of fresh-laid eggs for breakfast and the company of Mr. Dinkles, a cat who eats from an antique baby high chair.

Mr. Dinkles.

Best of all, Graham could have his own room and wear his favorite civilian clothes that we had brought for him to store at the Bancroft’s home.

By Saturday we had learned our lesson and left early enough to get Graham back to his dorm in time to change into his flight suit before the fourth-year cadets were bused to the football stadium. Brian and I were able to join his squadron’s tail gating party before the game.

Graham and some of his fellow Skyraiders.

Another day, another uniform.

Pre-game

We met some Alabama parents whose son is graduating this year and reconnected with the Schollmeyer family from Bismarck. Their daughter Rowyn has been in both Hellcats and Skyraiders with Graham. Our seats for the game were a few rows in front of the Swindlehurst family from Eden Prairie. Noah and Graham first met at Senator Klobuchar’s reception, and his mom Christy and I have bonded over texts and dinner, keeping each other company as we journey down this crazy path. We are finding our new USAFA family.

The pre-game festivities included some of the fourth-class cadets marching onto the field and then being released to race madly to their seats, members of the Wings of Blue parachute team landing on the field with the American flag, another fly over and a coin toss by a special guest, USAFA grad Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, better known as the pilot who landed his plane in the middle of the Hudson River. Here is a short 3-minute video of the parachute team and the flyover by a AC-130 gunship.

Then it was pretty much like experiencing a college football game played anywhere across the United States, albeit with cheerleaders who stood at attention and saluted during the national anthem and a game delay due to a lightning strike a few miles away. Someone told me later that “Nothing stops the Air Force, except for lightning.” Everyone had to leave their seats, return to their cars and wait 30 minutes before an all-clear was sounded. Just as it was time to go back in, another lightning strike occurred again and there was another delay. The game that started at noon didn’t actually finish until 5 p.m.

40-winks after the game.

But then Graham was free once more to return to the Bancroft’s home and not report back until Monday night at 1950 hours or 7:50 p.m.

We were the Maas family again for a few precious days.

We tried not to pepper Graham with too many questions, but the kid is like the Sphinx and doesn’t share details spontaneously. If we didn’t ask, we wouldn’t get told. We asked about his roommates, food at Mitch’s dining hall, upperclassmen shenanigans and more. Sometimes we even got answers!

We went out to eat a couple of times and saw “Ant Man and the Wasp” at the movie theater. But each time we went out, Graham had to get back into his stiff service dress uniform and he wasn’t able to fully relax. So mostly we hung out on the deck or laughed at Mr. Dinkles or just sat near each other and didn’t talk at all.

We returned to eat at our favorite Colorado Springs German restaurant, Edelweiss. Here, Cadet Maas receievd his first military perk: A free triple chocolate torte to take home. 

Appetizer at Edelweiss was the Kartoffel Pfannkuchen, potato pancakes with sides of smoked salmon and trout.

The days sped past and soon, too soon, it was time for Brian and I to leave for the airport in Denver. Graham had a few extra hours on his own until the Bancrofts returned and took him back to Academy.

I will admit to having more than a few minutes of ugly crying when I had to hide away from the guys so they wouldn’t see me. And strangely, the short drive in the Hertz shuttle from the car rental drop off to the airport is always ripe for more tears. I think that’s the moment when I really know I will be leaving my boy behind again. Even driving out of Colorado Springs, I keep my eyes on the Academy cathedral so prominent on the Colorado Spring skyline, because if I can see that, then I feel I can “see” him. Once it’s out of sight, he’s gone.

The Cathedral will close in January, and not reopen for four years as it is repaired and refurbished. 

Brian and I know with absolute certainty that Graham is where he needs to be. He is thriving, not just surviving, at the Academy. He is meeting talented young men and women from around the United States and beyond who will become his life-long friends. He is being challenged academically, physically and mentally. He will have so many amazing opportunities to learn and grow that the young man who graduates with the Class of 2022 will be his evolved, better self.

It's nice when we get texts like this, which lets us know he is doing just fine. He had also texted to let us know he received the highest score in his squadron for the recent military knowledge test.

And yet, for all that we are excited about his chosen path, the best moments of the weekend were the quiet ones, when I could once again tuck him into bed and remember the tiny boy he used to be.

How far he has come.  

How far will he go?